It is also true that teaching by mere sense-objects, if carried too far, is the result of a materialistic view of life. At this age every idea must be spiritualised. One ought not, for instance, to be satisfied with merely producing a sense-impression of a plant, a grain of seed, or a blossom. Everything should seem as an allegory of the spiritual. A grain of seed is, in truth, not merely what it appears to the eye. Invisibly the whole new plant inhabits it, and that such a thing is more than what the sense perceives, must be absolutely realised with the perception, the imagination, and the feelings. The mysterious presence of latent existence must really be felt. Nor can it be objected that such a proceeding would weaken the perception of pure sense; on the contrary, by a persistent adherence to sense perceptions alone, Truth itself would be the loser. For the complete reality of a thing exists in Spirit and in Matter, and accurate observations can be no less carefully carried out if one brings to the study not only the physical senses, but also the spiritual faculties. If people could only perceive, as the Occultist is able to, how both body and soul are spoiled by mere object-teaching, they would not then lay so much stress upon it. Of what value is it from the highest point of view, if young people are shown all kinds of physical experiments in the mineral, vegetable and animal worlds, if with such a study one does not suggest the application of the sense allegory to the feeling of spiritual mystery? Certainly a materialistic mind will not be able to make anything of what has here been said, and of that the Occultist is only too conscious. Yet it is also clear to him that a really practical method of education can never proceed from the materialistic mind. So practical does such a mind imagine itself, and yet so unpractical is it in reality, when it is a matter of considering life vitally. Opposed to the true reality, materialistic opinions seem only fantastic, while to the materialist, the interpretations of occult science must, of necessity, appear equally fantastic. Doubtless, too, there will remain many obstacles which must be overcome before the fundamental teachings of occult science, arising from life itself, will permeate the art of education. But that is to be expected, for at present these truths are strange to many; nevertheless, if they be really the truth, they will incorporate themselves into all culture. Only through the sure conviction that they are the only educational means by which to work upon young people, can the teacher always find the right way to deal correctly with each individual case. Thus, he must know how the individual powers of the soul —such as thinking, feeling and willing—ought to be treated, and how their development may react upon the etheric body; while this itself, between the period when the second teeth appear and that of puberty, can be perfectly moulded by outside influences.